Slayer of Sadness; Stormer of Brains This channel is a conversation about living life well, knowing true freedom, finding true rest, and understanding truth with clarity in a world full of noise.
If you think that women in abusive relationships shared endure criminal abuse, and say that it is akin to God, the son, enduring righteous justice as a substitute you have lost your mind. This is an absurdity violates every stitch of the New Testament teaching to the church. How dare you post something so criminal evil and hateful?
i often struggle with feeling like it’s okay to enjoy our life, or even pursue a life i enjoy. i feel guilty if i spend any extra income not used for survival, on myself. i have dreams for this life, and i know if they aren’t fulfilled i am okay, that it’s because God knows what’s best, but i still desire to pursue them because it would make me happy. then i think “how could i do this, when people barely survive?” and i don’t know how to find a balance 😭😭😭 so far, my guilt has just buried me into a hole that feels like God doesn’t care about if i’m happy or not at all, and that my only value and purpose is in doing things for others. please be praying for me in this as i feel so lost 🙏🏻😭
I know this seems a bit too literal or legalistic, but I take things very literally and I am confused. We’re called to die to our old earthly life, but lets say for example in your old earthly life, you enjoy going shopping. It’s not a sin, but since it’s apart of your old worldly life, do you give it up? (Disregarding if it becomes an addiction or if you’re shopping for sinful purposes)
Scripture doesn't call us to abandon joyful pleasures or engagement within the world. Listen to this message about dying with Christ and see if it resonates. Im happy to talk further. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-efkViLNdCBE.htmlsi=8Fb9AG9ZKKMjES1o
A note that I made while listening to your podcast: I experience the power of the Word of God as I read it. His word brings healing to my mind. It brings clarity of truth, assuring me that my identity is in Christ. I belong to Him. The Word changes the negative perceptions I have acquired through experience. The Holy Spirit of God transforms my mind through the word of God and conforms it to Christ's purposes, perceptions, and mindset.
Hello Sir, Do you know why your RU-vid channel is not getting many subscribers and views? because it is not delivering its right audiences due to SEO problems. Although your contents are very good. but, √No channel and video tags √No high-volume ranked tags √No SEO-friendly title, description. √No attractive Thumbnails. √Your videos do not appear at the top of search results √ SEO Score only 0% out of 100% As a result your channel cannot grow properly. If you can do these step by step, your channel views will increase, subscribers will increase and you will be able to reach your target audience. you should focus on your SEO so that You can get a big fanbase. I can grow your channel as a RU-vid expert. Let me know if you want. Thanks.
I appreciate the info. I’m not 😅interested in that level of time investment. One day I’ll get someone to come along and do those things. This channel is not a brand or an income stream.
The large family network of like-minded believers reminds me of "One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism" - I Think that's in Ephesians somewhere. I'm going to go look for it right now- thank you Pastor!😊
This is what I love so much about you. Your real. Right we come together to share, comfort, listen, and love and pray for each other. I love you are so see through. I find so much comfort in you because you are the way you are and are becoming 🙏
🎯 Key Takeaways for quick navigation: 00:00 📖 Paul's Joy and Challenges - Paul's joy in Thessalonians' transformation. - Facing opposition and maintaining joy. 03:14 🙏 Thessalonians' Gospel Reception - Thessalonians' positive reception and reputation. 19:54 🤔 Focus on Christian Living - Shift from theological debates to Christian living. - Theology's significance in light of God's revelation. 24:55 💖 Love Casts Away Fear - Righteousness from Christ, not actions. - Love's power in casting away fear. - Paul's love for Thessalonians and willingness to suffer. 27:02 🕊️ The Spiritual Nature of Love - Spiritual aspect of love, even in challenges. - Peace surpassing understanding. - Living spiritually means loving and serving. 30:57 🤔 Authentic Faith - Emphasizing authenticity in faith. - Challenges of church culture. - Renewing the mind through God's Word. 36:52 🤝 Desire for Genuine Fellowship - Paul's desire for authentic fellowship. - Organic life in believer gatherings. - Deep conversations and sharing life. 44:47 😰 Dealing with Anxiety - Paul's anxiety for churches and believers. - Comparison to parental anxiety. - Embracing struggles and authenticity. 50:11 👪 Love and Caring for Believers - Nurturing love within the community. - Emphasis on loving fellow believers. - Love as the foundation of Christian community. 51:17 📖 Learning God's Mystery in Christ - Church learns important lessons. - Initial excitement, disruptions, and God's joy. 52:31 ❤️ The Importance of Love - Thessalonians known for love. - Love More to cast away fear and doubt. 54:01 🤝 Learning to Love - Learning to love in Christ. - Loving family, neighbors, and each other. 55:27 🙏 Trusting God's Faithfulness - Working out salvation with trust. - Faith in Christ's faithfulness. - Living abundantly by faith in God's love. Made with HARPA AI
@@JamesTippins maybe you could elaborate on some of those things that you thought you knew that were wrong and what that process was/is like and how it has changed your thinking.
TENDER LOVING DIALOGUE REQUIRED! Thank you so much! This is exactly the kind of thing I can say to myself or even comment back when someone dismisses my contribution to a conversation. I get very frustrated by it, because it's often the refuge of someone who has just had a type of bigotry they've been happily bandying about explained to them in an undeniable way (we're talking misogyny, racism, transphobia, ableism, homophobia, xenophobia... the kind of things you can't defend other than to say TL;DR lol 😆🤣😂😂😂😂😂 their use of informal acronyms and emojis kinda betrays how defensive they are, desperately trying to pretend they don't care that people disagree with them and decry their outlook as wrong) It happens quite a lot to neurodiverse people who are taking the time to explain themselves and their views in order to help others understand them, and TL;DR x10 crying laughing emojis is often the response. It's a horrible situation, and I appreciate you for acknowledging how dehumanising it is. After that novel I left on your most recent video, this is sort of perfect. Off to haunt some other channel, I hope you're having a beautiful day!
I have to start a new thread, RU-vid doesn't like essays, written or filmed. Sorry, major wrap up - I wonder if viewing Jesus as a higher level Prophet than any who have come before or since, specifically referring to him as the "Only Begotten Son of God", is a crutch that limits us. It appears to offer an option to some to submit to an imagined hierarchy that involves God at the top, Jesus next (or not, Holy Ghost, who knows) then probably angels and a bunch of other stuff and then PRIESTS (or pastors or reverends or whatever title is appropriate) and then regular people. That then encourages hierarchical structures in general, PARTICULARLY ones that only include men at the top, which encourages people (again read: mainly men, though women attempt this also) to try to rise in that hierarchy, or find a way to exploit it in some way that benefits them practically rather than spiritually (ahahahaha sorry, my brain just threw up the family Borgia at that thought... not an inappropriate connection). And if Jesus is almost at the top of this imagined hierarchy, if he "promised" that certain things will be granted to his followers that behave in particular ways... well, you can see how that has been a justification for myriad atrocities, evils and unnecessary cruelty. We were PROMISED, by the SON of GOD. It's like having a hall pass signed by the principal. Jesus PROMISED me eternal life, through his sacrifice as the Lamb of God for all our Sins.... not to mention the fact that the Church has split into so many disparate entities (I don't believe in viewing Catholicism and Christianity as truly separate, distinct religions - same Prophet, same sins, same problems, especially when you look at LDS and the Witnesses... it's mostly misogyny based, shock horror) that there's no chance of all Christians suddenly taking responsibility for the misery and deprivation their faith has caused. There doesn't even seem to be a chance of a significant group of Christian faiths to come together in acknowledgement of everything they have destroyed in the pursuit of their beliefs, let alone try to address some of those issues. Again, saving people from being mutilated, imprisoned and murdered in Uganda would be an EXCELLENT start, since Christianity and the bigotry it has represented is responsible. I apologise if it sounds like I'm attacking your faith, I truly don't mean to, I am ENRAGED and embittered by the lack of humanity being shown to my queer siblings across the world, but no more so than in a place that just passed a law authorising capital punishment for "aggravated homosexuality." One way of being charged with that is to be a gay man who is HIV positive that has had sex, protected or otherwise, with another man. The irony that AIDS was created under conditions completely controlled by white colonising labour industries that refused to provide basic rations and medical care to its exploited African workers (thus enacting the conditions under which the human immunodeficiency virus appeared) is absolutely astounding, and still somehow disgustingly unsurprising. We caused this. WE CAUSED ALL OF THIS. Rage. Right. So now that I've absolutely ruined what time you had to engage with your comments, did any of that spark interest or response? I don't mean to prescribe what people should believe, that's hardly my place, so I apologise if the way I've expressed my thoughts has come across as prescriptive and/or intolerant. I've just been engaged with this topic since I was young enough to remember anything, because that's when society and then (public) school started insisting that I should learn about Jesus and the Bible to the exclusion of other spiritual courses. I was lucky enough to grow up with a parent who was very interested in esoteric education and didn't bat an eyelash when I asked to switch to Baha'i scripture lessons because I was sick of the same 4 stories every other week, year after year, in Anglican scripture (I was like "The Bible is HUGE, why don't you teach us more of it?" I now suppose it was because anything other than the big basic Jesus stories weren't actually considered appropriate for our learning or maturity level. Good call, I know some kids who would have FREAKED OUT at the pigs being sent over a cliff, myself included - I wouldn't have liked Jesus much had they taught me that before the age of 10 - and honestly, the Old Testament is full of either terrifying, confusing or boring stuff for a lot of people) I really liked Baha'i, incidentally - I still have the rainbow I coloured in and glued a bunch of acknowledged Prophets onto in the order that they appeared. Obviously I'm not looking at it right now, but it had Abraham, and Moses, and Jesus, and Muhammad, and Zoroaster and Baha'u'llah, with a few others. The idea that you could respect and love multiple Prophets in one religion, even ones from religions you consider to be vastly different from yours, made me SO HAPPY. The world is wide, and we know so little. It's totally okay that patterns and fractals emerge, like with all of those various deities that Jesus resembles - it actually backs up the Unity of Being and the existence of God in my opinion. But we do contribute to our own narrative, and I think it's important for us to examine the words we use and the concepts we espouse to try and avoid contamination of these basic truths with our own selfish motivations. I tend to prefer the metaphorical Son of God to the literal one, because even that title reminds us all to work to our highest power - the Divine within us all, no exceptions, no excuses. It doesn't place any more barrier between us and God than what already exists in immanence - not misogyny, not bigotry in general, not patriarchal power structures that are easier to derail from goodness than to keep them on track. Just an invitation. And that's why I get het up when I hear about "the only begotten Son of God". The end, lol. Sorry for the eye strain. And thanks for having a channel where I can be inspired to engage this much. I've nothing against pastors, I'm sure there are heaps of fab ones, but you're definitely the coolest I've had the privilege to come across in a while, so cheers for being you.
I'm stuck in bed with a busted foot... so my brain is working overtime and I have no one to have a theosophical conversation with (uh oh, at this point it might count as a diatribe.. but only because it's a bunch of my opinions at once without the benefit of anyone else's!). I really hope you don't mind but hey, Pastor James... Inspired by the comment about "Jesus's promises", one of the things I always come back to re: Christianity is the decision to view Jesus as the literal begotten son of God. Historically, as far as I'm aware, it was a decision. There was an ecumenical council (one of many, I think I might have been able to visit the site of one of them in Turkey) and it was decided to attempt to ensure the continuation of a religion which, at the time, had only been around for roughly 100 years and was thoroughly outnumbered by the religion of their Prophet. I get it - when you're actively competing with long established religions that are deeply interwoven within various cultures and that often involve pantheons of Gods with phenomenal, exciting powers that they deploy with more recognised regularity than the monotheist God, you need something to compete with. Plus the Judaic concept of God already existed - again, they needed something to set them APART from other sects, not simply monotheism (not being a new concept). I'm not meaning to sound so cynical, I believe that some if not most if not all the people who attended these councils wanted the Love at the basis of Jesus' teachings to survive, because they believed it to be Good (agreed). But sometimes we make mistakes when we're trying to promote something important. Acknowledging the archetypal similarities between Jesus and Horus/Hercules/Vishnu/Thor/Lugh (I assume the lack of links with Mesopotamian deities was partially to do with Christianity's move west and that various Mesopotamian cults and systems had been around for several thousand years, longer than Judaism, so a lack of association perhaps suited the idea of Christianity being a new, improved, more legitimate successor to Judaism and alternative to other faiths) and later King Arthur (being prophetically born to a sovereign ruler, Uther, but equipped to do more on Earth than his father ever did, he essentially had apostles in his knights and there was a lot of BS about hidden identities/rape by deception to do with his conception... I mean, it's quite crass but it's an obvious continuation of the long established pattern around the Divine Prince, and consciously Christian), it just seems strange to believe the fairly outlandish tale of a virgin birth of the literal (and only) begotten Son of God rather than that of a man who was born to parents after being conceived out of wedlock (whether it was consensual or not), was treated with love and respect despite there being some societal allowances for him (and his mother) to be shunned or killed, loved and valued his religion as taught to him by his family and friends but saw it being used or ignored for profit and selfish ends (and shunning/murdering people like himself and his beloved mother, which he was presumably very grateful to have been protected from) rather than as a guide to love and care for all people, and so he went about telling folk what he thought. I might be taking this too personally, but my father was taken away from me before he died because of selfish, ignorant, completely illogical immigration reasons and it is a burning coal inside me, wanting to explain to every person on Earth (that doesn't already know, and a lot do, fortunately/unfortunately) why that kind of behaviour demeans the highest and the lowest of us, why it diminishes us as Human creations (sorry, can't do the Man thing here, misogyny eh?) and why we should feel deep, motivating shame about such decisions, so we stop. For good. You can see why I'm attached to this more immanent version of Jesus, or Yeshua. He makes SENSE to me, more than the stories I was told as a child that necessitated teaching a 5 year old what a 'whore' was but contained virtually no depictions of women as anything other than fallen, apart from Mary his Mother, who seems to have escaped purely by incredibly close familial association. We know Mary Magdalene did not benefit from this respect in the Bible, or any of the other female followers. Simply not being referred to as a 'whore' is hardly equal respect that Jesus' disciples were paid in writing and tradition, I think we can agree. (P.S. I support sex workers, they're the tops) Besides, it's incredibly dehumanising to make the most obvious connection between women and the story of Jesus be that his mother was this semi-mystical creature, never to be repeated (except maybe one more time?!) who birthed him without the experience common to other births (sex) and that his main female disciple was that because he "saved" her soul from demons, usually implied to have tormented her because of her occupation rather than any other reason. I mean, if that's the case, Jesus was letting a whole lot of men and women suffer torment simply by not making it a major part of his mission, to save sex workers. Feels like we're off the topic of Love and Compassion, right? That's because we absolutely are. The way women are referred to with regard to Jesus within most well known Christian circles is... misogynist. cont'd
Anyway, sorry, back to the point - I find that modern Christians can sometimes have a tendency to fall back on the "promises of Jesus" in a way that I find... unhelpful. It tends to become an echo chamber of "I believe in and accept Jesus as my Lord and Saviour, therefore I am loved and shall be saved, no matter what I do, even if that involves consistently being self centered, supporting political parties that advocate discrimination and lack of respect to fellow human beings, continuing business practices that destroy the Earth and support the capitalist endeavour, which sees a certain portion of the population as ALWAYS and INTRINSICALLY undeserving and an exploitable work force - because if any of these things were truly wrong or evil, they would be stopped! By God or the Second Coming or me being punished horrifically and Biblically, or at least I wouldn't be thriving... God and his begotten Son Jesus (not to mention the Holy Ghost) wouldn't just ALLOW me to be a terrible, terrible human and give me all this positive feedback." Um.... yes. That's how being immanent and having free will works. You create an evil system that profits you, you WILL receive that profit, even if you shouldn't, even if it's damning to everyone around you, down to the rocks and the trees, and your immortal soul will forever be in torment... you have the power to choose that fate for yourself. Otherwise, why would Jesus advocate compassion and mercy, if it had no VALUE? (let's leave the Hell debate to the side for now, I know I mentioned torment, but it might just be my childish way of dealing with the cruelty of humanity, to reference supposed punishment) It feels like, speaking particularly of the United States where Republicans and various unaffiliated people like to refer to separation between Church and State but totally ignore the role that Christianity played in the Manifest Destiny policy, in the enslavement of hundreds of thousands of people (still without reparations), the destruction of Indigenous cultures and the rape and murder of those people and the continued horrifying discrimination and abuse of queer people around the world by communities that were interfered with by Christian missionaries (witness the Ugandan government right now, hunting and murdering trans and queer people because of their "ungodly" behaviour), that Christianity has largely become an excuse for bad behaviour, not an invitation to do good. That Jesus being the Only Begotten Son of God who Died for Our Sins and Who Will Return When The Time is Right seems to give people a sense of moral justification, pardon the genX phrasing, that Sky Daddy and his Magic Boy love Christians (specifically white American Christians, though we have a lot of unenviable faithful over here in Europe and everywhere else too) more than anyone else and THEREFORE they have rights that other people don't have. They are the Golden Children, loved by God, so they can do no wrong (or they can but so long as they ask forgiveness, it's totally fine - to the point of excusing THOUSANDS of child abusing priests and intentionally moving them around the world, hiding them in plain sight, to avoid censure of the Church and justice for the victims... also the hundreds and hundreds of Indigenous children from around the world that were abused and murdered in convent schools that get even less press than the previously mentioned scenario). I mean, the founding fathers were Christian and America as an entity LOVES them, whilst simultaneously being entirely aware that they all owned slaves and believed black people to be only "3/5 of a man". That seems... fundamentally flawed? And possibly encouraged by this idea that the Prophet of their religion was the literal, actual and only Son of God, who was Resurrected and Will Return rather than a man who chose to do good, spread love and put himself in a position to die for those beliefs? Not to be a literal blood sacrifice to wipe away the sins of humanity (how would that work? the cruelty and hate and evil still exists and affects the world) but as an example of what we could be SHOULD WE CHOOSE IT. It seems ironic that the Jewish people call themselves "God's Chosen People" and at large, don't appear to demonstrate anywhere near this level of myopia or superiority. They don't even get mad about Christianity essentially being a Judaic cult that "got out of hand", as it were, even when a significant number of Christians are actively spreading anti-semitism, Nazism and other insane right wing propaganda against them. It's like having a younger sibling who NEVER learns, who seems to take active JOY in doing the wrong thing, even after you've been horrifyingly abused and they witnessed it all. Hands up, I'm a non-practising Jewish person myself. But I have no attachment to that religion over any other Abrahamic, I think they all have their roots in a very pure, beautiful conception of the world. They remain easily twistable by us. If you view Jesus as a Prophet but a man, one of billions of children of God rather than "the only begotten Son of our Lord", I don't believe that undermines his message. I believe that thinking of Jesus as truly human is empowering to all people and actually underlines his message, that God is in all of us as He created all of us (I use gendered language but you can imagine that I don't hold with that, especially as it refers to the Almighty, but I also hold with referring to Him as They implies a plurality which is inappropriate... perhaps with acknowledging non-binary and gender fluid people, we can develop the word They or adopt some of the gender neutral terms, like ze - I know we're very used to using He/Him but nothing will change until we do, including the patriarchy and misogyny!) I love the idea of a man standing before others and stating that he is "a Son of God" as all before him are "Children of God". How beautifully unifying is that? It takes true appreciation and humility to believe and espouse that without submitting to the idea that you are above others, even as they attempt to worship YOU rather than what you preach. Conflating the message with the messenger. I can see you understand that from this video (sorry, Pastor XD lol) cont'd above, in a new thread
This is true. We need to get into the depths. However, when someone has one point and repeats its 500 times or when they chase irrelevant rabbits over 5000 words that deserves a TL;DR response.
@@onpilgrimagethroughthescri343 Thanks very much, that does make sense. The only further amendment I would personally offer is that perhaps we should employ patience where possible, as sometimes people might appear to be chasing irrelevant rabbits a fair distance but we might have misapprehended a turn of the hunt or the rareness of the rabbit. In attempting to keep with the metaphor... I may have illustrated it too well - sometimes we don't immediately take a meaning that later reveals itself, at the appointed time. I find that to be the case, when reading and rereading various scriptures. And in honour of that (and probably mostly not wanting to look foolish later, at least in my case), we should try to be respectful of the passages we've yet to comprehend. Obviously not everyone's writing is equal to scripture but since I'm not a good judge, I try to withhold - with minimal succes lol. Sorry if this comment appeared rabbity, I think it's just how I sound.
Thank you! I now just ignore all the "exposure" police. I will believe what I want to believe. I will do what I want to do. I will believe in Jesus. And I will live my life. :)
Yes. I disregard anyone now who expects a systematic expression of a doctrine that is derived through study and inference as necessary for fellowship in life. These people are not friends to anyone. We have much work to do to spread gospel peace and joy and have time for our intimate relationships. There is a world out there full of sheep with ears ready to hear the truth.
